Within the sub-region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is actively working to establish a force dedicated to fighting terrorism and addressing security threats.
Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security at ECOWAS, highlighted this initiative during a three-day consultative meeting involving the commandants of the three selected ECOWAS Training Centres of Excellence.
The three designated centres of excellence are the National Defence College in Nigeria, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana, and Ecole de Maintien de la Paix Alioune Blondin Beye in Mali.
This consultative meeting, as reported by NewsNow, is a bi-annual event organized by the Directorate of Peacekeeping and Regional Security of ECOWAS. It aims to support training programs, enhance capacity, promote research and development for the ECOWAS Standby Force, and improve overall peace and security in the sub-region.
Musah emphasized the urgent need for counter-terrorism forces to address the escalating terrorism threat in the region.
He explained that operational strategies, concepts, and plans have been developed in collaboration with the Chief of Defence Staffs to form an advanced rapid reaction force capable of confronting terrorist groups.
Furthermore, as part of the heads of state resolution, ECOWAS aims to raise $2.4 billion to finance the standby force for effectively combating security challenges.
“The Heads of States have mandated the raising of $2.4 billion in the first year to support the operations of this force in combating terrorists,” Musah stated.
He also mentioned that member states have been instructed to contribute one billion dollars toward the commencement of operations for the standby force. Additionally, defense and finance ministers from the sub-region will convene to devise funding mechanisms for the force.